Krystal’s day went on as usual, but before she went to bed, she was extremely happy and even in tears when she received a birthday greeting from her best friend who’s living in the States. They’ve been best friends since grade school and they don’t see each other regularly, thus having video calls as their new best friend to connect the two. Her best friend was always her first greeter ever since they were in elementary. There were even times in school that she was her only greeter. Whenever they’d part, she would cry buckets of tears for days.

Aside from her best friend’s greeting, her mom, her aunt, and her uncle all sent her messages because their calls couldn’t go through and they already knew that she was spending the first minute of her birthday with her best friend and they guessed right when they said that she was probably crying.

Minho was excited to clock out of work because they could finally go and eat. He was really tired after a surgery and he was thankful that he only had to perform one surgery today. He felt like he was already lacking the energy during his rounds, but he still managed to use up his remaining energy to look bright for the patients. As he went to his last patient, he happily walked back to his clinic and prepared his stuff to get ready to leave.

In her clinic, Krystal was visited again by one of her favorite patients. Her niece got her vaccine today and her cousins even brought her a present, with a tag saying “to the baby of the family.” She was really happy to know that she was still their baby despite having a kid of their own. The gift was simple, but she didn’t mind. In fact, presents don’t even matter to her. Just the fact that people remembered was already enough. 

When she was still younger, there was a time that no one remembered except for six people. That was when she realized that birthdays shouldn’t be a big deal because she was still alive and it was only a daw to remind her that she got older, so it’s not a big deal. Since then, she refused to celebrate and just proceeded with her day just as usual. However, on her the weekend of her birthweek, she would go to the orphanage to have a party for the children and learned to share her blessings at a young age. She enjoyed being with them more than having huge parties, unlike her peers.

“We’ll get going now. This big girl needs to wake up early for school tomorrow,” Yunho said.

Krystal nodded and gave her niece one last hug before giving her cousins a hug. “Thank you so much for stopping by.”

“You did well, today, baby girl and I know you always do. We’re always proud of you.” Ara cupped her cheeks before giving her a kiss on her right cheek.

“It’s your birthday, I won’t be touching your hair. Happy birthday again, princess.” Yunho gave her a kiss on her forehead before carrying Hwayoung.”

“Thank you, unnie and oppa. I’ll visit you, guys, soon!”

“Happy birthday, auntie! Bye bye!” She waved goodbye to her aunt before they left,

After the family left, she got her stuff ready to leave. 10 minutes later, her husband walked through the door and called for her when he saw that her receptionist was already gone.

“Just a sec,” she responded. As she walked to him, she saw how his eyes were glued to his phone. “How many today?”

He kept his phone in his pocket and met her eyes. “Just one, thank goodness. Where do you want to have dinner?”

She shrugged. “We could eat at home or in my favorite salad place. Those two are what I only have in mind.”

Minho pouted as he nodded. “I thought you said you wanted to eat Spanish two days ago?”

“That was two days ago. I’m no longer craving for that. Let’s just go home.”

“Okay, I’ll just cook us dinner.” He smiled at her before he opened the door and let her head out first. As they walked to the car, Krystal’s phone buzzed. He checked to see if she was going to get it, but just ignored it. “You’re not gonna check that?”

She shook her head. “It’s just a text anyway. I’m also walking, so it’s best for me to check it in the car.”

Again, he only nodded. Luckily, her eyes were glued on her phone, hence failing to notice that they took another route or maybe even the wrong way home. He kept biting his cheeks to stop himself from smiling and would steal glances of her while she still had her eyes on the screen.

When she raised her head, she noticed that it wasn’t the usual way home. “Where are we?”

“Oh, I had to reroute. The road was closed because of some accident.”

“So we’re taking the long way home?”

“Yep.”

“Sorry, I know you’re already hungry.”

“No worries, it not your fault that the road was closed and I’m not even hungry.” She turned to look at him with a mocking smile on her face. “But I know you’re the one who’s hungry.”

“What, I had to do a surgery.”

“Just one, though.”

“But it was long.”

At this point, she could no longer think of a comeback because it was probably really long and complicated, which is a usual case. “I thought you weren’t so tired.”

“But that doesn’t make ne not hungry.” Since it was a stoplight, he pouted and looked at her.

“Stop that, you’re not cute. You look like a frog.”

“A frog prince, right?” He smiled at her before he stepped on the pedal for the car to move at the green light.

“No, just a regular frog that you see in the river.” She smiled cheekily before looking at him and raising her eyebrows.

Minho quickly glanced at her and she sure was having fun making fun of him. The sight of her teasing her while smiling just made him shake his head before smiling as well. She was getting bullied by him and he knew that she was happy with it.

“You know what, we’re taking really long. This is such a long way home!”

“Yeah and I’m already hungry.” He only sighed in his seat as he waited for another green light. “You know what, let’s just get dinner in your favorite Spanish restaurant instead of cooking at home.”

“Okay,” she agreed while nodding slowly. “I haven’t satisfied those cravings anyway and now that you mentioned it, they suddenly went to haunt me just now.”

“Which is good. Spanish it is.” As the light turned green, he quickly drove to the restaurant that was just in the corner of the of the next block, which was already near.

Both Minho and Krystal were excited as they went down of the car. He was excited because he can finally address his hunger. She was happy because she’ll be able to eat in one of her favorite restaurants for today.

“That’s odd.” She looked at the time and saw that it was barely near the closing time, so how come the place was already close?

“What?” Minho noticed that the place really seemed close. “They can’t be under renovation. We gotta eat.”

“If this place is close, then I’m gonna flip!”

His eyes widened at her remark. “I’m hoping it better not be.”

“Maybe I can try and talk to the staff.” Krystal marched toward the door and saw the receptionist in her spot and the first thing she said was an apology.

“I’m sorry ma’am, but we closed early tonight because the management asked us to. We’ve also just finished the last orders an hour ago and the last costumers just left.”

Krystal’s voice suddenly became a whisper. “Well, you see- it’s my birthday and I’d really love it if you can accommodate us.”

“I’m gonna have to talk to the manager. Please wait for a moment.” The girl smiled politely before bowing, then walking at the back.

Minho entered just after the receptionist went to the back and stood beside Krystal. “What happened, there’s no one here too?”

“No, the receptionist just went at the back to try and get my request through the manager.”

“So they really closed early, huh?”

She nodded. “The last costumers had just left too.” She sighed before sitting at the bench by the waiting area. “We’ve taken the long way home and we just want dinner and this happens.”

He sat beside her and patted her knee. “It’s fine. We’ll be able to find other food outside and they’re nearby.” He gave her a small smile and she flashed him one as well.

“Sorry for taking so long,” the receptionist said as she entered, which hot their attention. The pair stood up, ready for what she was about to say next. “Our manager said that since you’re a regular here, we can accommodate your request.”

She did a small jump and clapped her hands in excitement.

“Looks like you’re not going to flip?”

“I think so too,” she smiled. They both thanked the receptionist and started following her inside when she asked them to.

Author's note: I'm not sure whether I'll be posting until the chapter that I wrote, but oh well- we'll see :D